La leptospirose en Guyane française et sur le bouclier des Guyanes. État des connaissances en 2016

Leptospirosis is a cosmopolitan zoonosis caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Whether the distribution is worldwide, the hot and humid climate of the tropics is particularly conducive to its expansion. In most French overseas departments and territories, leptospirosis is considered as a public health problem. In French Guiana, a French department located in the northeastern part of the Amazon rainforest, it is supposed to be rare. The objective of this review was to make an inventory of the knowledge on human and animal leptospirosis in French Guiana and neighboring countries. A comprehensive search was conducted through the indexed and informal medical literature in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Thus, respectively ten and four publications were identified on human and animal leptospirosis in French Guiana, published between 1940 and 1995 in the form of case reports or case series. The publications concerning this disease in the other countries of the Guiana Shield, eastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazilian state of Amapá, also scarce or nonexistent. However recent data from the French National Centre of leptospirosis showed a recent and sudden increase in the number of cases in the department, probably partly due to the development of diagnostic tools such as Elisa IgM serology. It is likely that leptospirosis is a neglected disease in the region, due to the lack of diagnostic tools readily available, the lack of knowledge of the local clinicians on this disease and the existence of many other pathogens with similar clinical presentation such as malaria, arboviruses and Q fever and Amazonian toxoplasmosis. The establishment of more large-scale studies on animal and human leptospirosis is necessary and urgent to know the true burden of this disease in our region.     

Two cases of polyarteritis nodosa with a good prognosis?

INTRODUCTION: Polyarteritis nodosa is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that may become serious, even with no usual poor prognosis factors. EXEGESIS: We report two cases of polyarteritis nodosa with negative histology, starting only with an extensive necrosis of the extremities. The treatment, associating corticosteroids and, secondarily, immunosuppressors, did not prevent a bilateral half-leg amputation for the two patients. In the first case the disease stabilized, but in the second one, it worsened, leading to death within 2 years. CONCLUSION: This clinical aspect of the disease is unusual and should be identified because of its bad prognosis. It might benefit from a treatment from the outset associating corticosteroids and immunosuppressors, even with no usual bad prognosis factors.     

Addiction to cocaine: a risk factor for suicide?

Cocaine is an illicit substance which is the greatest suicide-induced potential. Studies show a link between cocaine dependence and suicide. The prevalence of its use, in the days leading up to a suicide, may vary as between 9.4 and 20% according to the chosen method. The number of suicides is important. The acting out may be present at all stages of the addictive cycle associated with cocaine. On the 12th National Day on Suicide Prevention devoted to addictions and suicide, it was recommended that addictive phenomena should be taken more into account by experts in the subject, and that the risk of suicide should be evaluated by specialists in addiction in order that people presenting a risk be placed in appropriate preventative care in time.     

Le vécu parental à la loupe : résultats d’une enquête en ligne du GREEN

An anonymous online survey was conducted between February 2014 and October 2015 to describe parental perceptions concerning their participation in the care of their neonates hospitalized since birth in a neonatal unit in France. More than 3,300 parents completed the questionnaire. Parents felt very stressed the first time they took part in the caring of their neonates. Most parents reported they felt supported by the caregivers but not enough encouraged by them to do simple caregiving activities for which they felt capable. Skin-to-skin care was described as insufficiently proposed     

Analyse de l’exposition préalable aux anti-inflammatoires et aux antibiotiques d’une cohorte de 34 patients hospitalisés au CHU de Nantes pour phlegmon périamygdalien

Objective

The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of patients hospitalized for a peritonsillar abscess over a 1-year period and to evaluate the proportion of patients exposed to anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs before hospitalization.

Design

Adult patients hospitalized in the ENT department at the Nantes University Hospital were included in the study during 2006. Data related to prior use of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs, microbiology and treatment was analyzed.

Results

Thirty-four patients were included in the study, 20 (59%) and 21 (62%) patients had been previously exposed to anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs, respectively. Half of the patients had received antibiotics despite the negativity of the rapid screening test. All diagnoses were made on pus examination after aspiration. Tonsillectomy was performed only in two cases. A total of 21 bacterial isolates (13 anaerobic and 9 aerobic) were identified. Single bacterial isolates were recovered in 8 infections. The most frequent bacteria were Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, and Prevotella.

Conclusions

Many patients were exposed to both anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs, which did not prevent the peritonsillar abscess.     

Secondary tumors of the right heart. Echocardiographic aspects. Apropos of 6 cases in the adult

Secondary cardiac tumours are rare but but are now more frequently diagnosed by echocardiography. We report 6 cases of intracardiac metastases affecting the right heart which were diagnosed by 2D echocardiography. In 3 cases, a very mobile, oval-shaped tumour was visualised within the right atrium prolapsing into the tricuspid orifice in diastole like a myxoma but associated in 2 cases with signs of invasion of the inferior vena cava. Two other non-mobile tumours were observed causing massive invasion of the right atrium and the last case was of an infiltrating tumour of the right ventricle resulting in pulmonary infundibular obstruction. In the light of our experience and a review of the literature, it is difficult to distinguish secondary tumours of the right atrium from myxomas especially when the tumours are mobile and when it is impossible to visualise a pedicle inserted on the interatrial septum or tumoral invasion of the inferior vena cava. At the ventricular level, the diagnostic signs differ according to whether there is tumoral invasion of the cavity or infiltration of the muscular wall. These cases illustrate the value of 2D echocardiography in the diagnosis of intracardiac metastases, sometimes even in the absence of clinical signs.     

Value and limitations of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography in the diagnosis of thromboses of mechanical valve prosthesis. Report of 19 cases

The diagnosis of thrombosis of a valvular prosthesis is difficult especially in cases of partial thrombosis. The authors report 19 cases of partial thrombosis of mainly (16 cases) mechanical valve prostheses confirmed by radioscopy and treated either by reoperation or fibrinolysis. Mitral Valve Prostheses: 14 cases (6 Bj?rk, 7 SJM, 1 Carbomedics). All but one case showed significant prolongation of the pressure half time compared with the postoperative reference value. In one case, however, the functional parameters of the prosthesis were normal; the diagnosis was made from the finding of a mobile thrombus on the ventricular surface of the prosthesis. Aortic Valve Prostheses: 5 cases (3 Bj?rk, 1 SJM, 1 Duromedics). Continuous wave Doppler showed significant increases in the velocity of transprosthetic blood flow with respect to the postoperative reference values. Accurate analysis of the mobile elements of the prostheses was usually impossible. These results show that transthoracic Doppler echocardiography remains an excellent method of study and surveillance of mechanical valve prostheses but the limitations of the technique should be familiar to all operators.